The independent, satirical Manchester United supporters' fanzine - for adults only, contains expletives - returns with waffle and bad sound. The episode that never wants to end as it comes in 3 parts after our FA Cup win over Reading and we look ahead to the trip to Spurs. #mufc

"We've got a World Cup winner on the pitch, it just excites me. Just imagine how much we can do with these players, it's been great, and they've been really receptive, they have been very good."

"It's the ultimate honour to lead a Man Utd team out on Old Trafford, so on Boxing Day it's going to be the biggest day of my life, I just have to keep my emotion in check just in case I might have to do the job! I am so looking forward to it, but the players have promised me Cardiff will get beat because that one is for me!"

"As I said earlier, we are a team that is here for the players, to get the players playing football that we love to see, get the results that we want to see with the supporters, so you are all my friends, I don't know all your names but being at this club is like a family, when you walk in and you meet Kath at reception, the first thing you meet, you know... that is a family so let's keep together and let's crack on and get the players enjoying it."
]]>RN Free MUFC Discussion ForumRed Newshttp://www.rednews.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/188166-World-Exclusive-Part-2-Ole-Gunnar-Solskjaer-speaking-at-the-MUFC-Staff-Xmas-Party-last-night-praises-Paul-PogbaThe Red News Exclusive Interview with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer from RedNews242, for our 30th anniversaryhttp://www.rednews.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/188079-The-Red-News-Exclusive-Interview-with-Ole-Gunnar-Solskjaer-from-RedNews242-for-our-30th-anniversary?goto=newpost
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 12:05:04 GMTThe Red News Exclusive Interview with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer from RedNews242, for our 30th anniversary
New Red News 258 now out. Single print...The Red News Exclusive Interview with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer from RedNews242, for our 30th anniversary

RN: So how are you then?
Ole: Good, good, preparing and looking forward for a new season (at Molde). It’s completely different because obviously the facilities here, you never know, for example today the under pitch heating didn’t work so it was broke and it was minus -2 so instead of being able to train outside we had to go into a 60 x 40 indoor hall so you’ve got to work day to day really. And it’s a long, long pre-season, friendlies in February and March and then we start the league on 1st April so I was used to it as a player, I remember thinking because it was really hard period of pre-season so we train maybe too long, too hard, loads of running, compared to now where we focus more on high intensity, shorter distances, so how to adapt. English pre-season sometimes the difference maybe 6-8 weeks, maximum 9, while here we have got pre-season for 12 weeks. And that’s probably the shortest one because we started a week or 10 days later than anyone else in Norway.

RN: And how does it feel going back? Did it feel right?
Ole: Yeah it does, it’s great just working with players day in, day out, players who want to improve, to develop, players here are dreaming to play abroad, play in England, Germany, so you’ve got 100% attitude every single day, so too many players, say in the Championship then, they’ve got enough money, they are comfortable where they are and it’s not about stepping out of the comfort zone it’s just ticking over.

RN: Sir Alex often said that you were observing the game on the bench, is that true, were you taking it all in?
Ole: Yeah, I think so. Because first of all I was privileged to be involved in what I was involved in so I felt no, there was not many times I sat on the bench thinking ‘I can’t do this anymore’. I was there and I was always ready to get on and most of the times I would get on because if we were losing the Gaffer would change because he knew the affect I might have just both on supporters, our own team and the opposition team because we built like an image, like a myth that when he came on he scored goals! Then again if we were winning 2-0, he just gave me 20-30 minutes at the end or at half-time because he wanted to keep us all happy so a 1-0 win was probably the worst result! He wouldn’t put me on! Laughs.

RN: So were you observing the tactical side or positioning, what was it?
Ole: I was just mentally preparing for the game. It’s a bit of a myth that I was analysing the lot but I did come on and of course I watched the game so I did see which one of the full-backs was slow or which one of the centre-backs I could beat in the air, really important things, you can find spaces, find weaknesses so in a sense it’s true and in another it’s a bit more exaggerated if you know what I mean. That’s the way I am. I can spot the players quite quickly.
RN: So you’re sussing that now as a manager? And passing that advice on to the players?
Ole: Yeah of course. It’s one of those things that I’ve always got with me that I can use to my substitutes, that you might be able to change the game, you’ve got to do this, that or the other, you’ve got to not sulk. No point sulking to me because I know what it’s like, I never sulked. There’s absolutely no point in feeling sorry for yourself because it won’t help you.

RN: Did it piss you off the ‘supersub’ tag because you started a fair few too banging them in?
Ole: To be fair it didn’t piss me off but obviously I realise after a while or towards the end of my career that I was the perfect sub for the Gaffer because he knew I was never pissed off or I would never sulk so when I came on it would have an affect on the game. He knew he could trust me as a squad player because I just did my best no matter what. Of course I enjoyed starting games but coming on and doing so well as a sub so many times, changed quite a few games, but it made my name and I’ll be remembered as a good sub.

RN: More than that!
Ole: But it doesn’t matter because at least you made a name for yourself. When I grew up there was only one or two subs back then, I remember David Fairclough came on for Liverpool quite often, I was happy doing the job that the Gaffer demanded and required from me.

RN: There was one thing I have never seen you asked, Teddy and Andy Cole didn’t get on, so how was that for you as one of the players who was sometimes playing with both or alternating, was it uncomfortable?
Ole: None whatsoever because what we did in our spare time and leisure time didn’t really matter and there was only in one argument, in one game and after that they still played as well as possible together, they never ever had a ‘no, I’m not going to pass to him’, absolutely no chance and the Gaffer sussed that out quickly, that he could trust them, they are top professionals - you don’t have to get on, you don’t have to go and have dinner with each other but when you play you play as well as you can play as a player and it never frustrated me, no. Never, ever.

RN: Now looking back does it feel surreal that so much time has passed since, ’99 was 17 years ago! It just feels mental that…
Ole: Yep! Time flies when you have fun! And I had 14 and a half years at United, absolutely fantastic but now I’m going into my… in the summer it’s 10 years since I retired so it’s gone really quickly. I’m not a person, I don’t like to sit down, and sit back and look back at what I did, I always want to make new memories for myself or make something happen but of course in the last, when my kids grow up now I have got Noah who is 16, Elijah will be 9 in the summer, Karna is 13 and it’s like, when they sing my song at Old Trafford, I get emotional, ’well they remembered Daddy! They do remember it still!’
RN: Always!

RN: How much did Cardiff scar, are you glad you did it?
Ole: I’m glad I did it. I’m very glad I did it because for me like an experience it was invaluable, you can’t learn in a coaching course, you’ve got to go out there and test yourself and do it. We might look back at it… I look back at it, well it was the wrong decision right now with hindsight to take that job, I’m sure Vincent Tan they look at it as they’ve, it was the wrong decision to hire Ole, but at the time for me it felt like the right move because if I could get the club going it would have been a great achievement because Vincent still wanted that club to be successful, it was a great chance for me.

RN: Do you still see managing United as an aim? Or are you happy being happy without the stress of that huge job?
Ole: I would have loved to have managed United, that’s my dream job and still is. That’s a dream job and when we came to Old Trafford with Cardiff, that’s the most surreal experience I’ve had. Without a shadow of a doubt. So the United supporters singing my song for about 75% of the game and I’ve got to be professional because I’m doing a job. We had a chance to get a result up there and my support, or the Cardiff supporters singing my song, it was such a surreal, difficult position to be in. Even though I was professional and we had a great chance, but it was just bad timing. Robin Van Persie came back, they’d just signed Mata… To have got the result at Old Trafford would have been… on Sunday when Warren (Joyce) was stood there (with Wigan) on the touchline, and he’s like, it’s a strange feeling. Because Man Utd does something to you, it’s not just a normal, everyday club, it scarred me for life! It touched me for life.

RN: You still feel that connection?
Ole. It never goes. Yeah. Oh! Now, when we’ve got the good times going again, with Zlatan is there now, Mkhitaryan, Paul is back, because I had Paul in the reserves, we’ve started to look like Man Utd again. We’ve got the big names, when we beat was it Boro, when Paul scored in extra-time, I was watching with my Noah and with 15 minutes to go ‘don’t worry Son, we’ll win this one, I’ve seen this before!’. It was New Years Eve wasn’t it? Then I said to him ‘I’ve watched these games so many times, don’t worry about it, we’ll win this’.

RN: So you’re up celebrating when it goes in, jumping around?
Ole: Yeah! So I text the Gaffer after that game ‘we’ve done that before, haven’t we!’, and he said ’yeah, we’ve done that a few times’, because we text him Happy Birthday, just like the old times.

RN: What happened after Fergie, do you think that’s just what was going to happen whatever, how do you replace the greatest?
Ole: It always happens. If you just look at every single club, at home with Rosenborg they had Nils Arne Eggen and they won the league for X amount of time, when he retires, downturn unfortunately, because he had that strong personality that everyone, there was so much respect there so that’s them, 3% or 4% that players will step off the gas a little bit because the Gaffer is not there, that’s enough in the top, top league to be 4th, or 5th.

RN: And do you think Jose has cracked it and he will get it right and a 21st title?
Ole: Yeah, oh we’ll get it, we’re on the road, we’re on the way again. Of course the league, it used to be between us and Arsenal to be fair when I played, and towards the end Chelsea came in there, now it’s Man City, now you’ve got Tottenham, Liverpool back in there with a shout and now it’s one of six. I’m sure that with the strength that we’ve got in the management team now, and the players we are attracting, that we are on the road.

RN: Who was the team that you looked out for, the fixture that you wanted?
Ole: Of course Liverpool. It’s the Liverpool game. That’s the first one you looked at. There was a couple of seasons when Man City were down in the Championship, and even League One I think wasn’t it?

RN: Yep, ’99, brilliant…
Ole: But it was the Liverpool game, home and away. Maybe especially away because you looked at that one and say ‘we have to beat them there’, and we did a few times!

RN: I was on the top row, third tier, it’s still vivid, I can picture it all, is it still vivid for you in the Nou Camp?
Ole: Yeah to be fair it is. Because I’ve seen the pictures so many times, I’ve seen the goal so many times…

RN: How many times have you had to talk about it!
Ole: So many times I’m asked to answer that question about ‘how did it feel’! So it’s still there and I can still remember my chat with Jim Ryan before the game and I tell him ‘something big is going to happen to me’. Everything in and around that game is quite easy to bring out memories.

RN: How does it feel watching it with your kids now, now they are old enough to understand what you did?
Ole: Of course you’re proud that you have been part of Man Utd’s maybe proudest moment.

RN: Does it feel odd that many men have named their kids after you?!
Ole: No. There are so many grown men that come to me and say ‘it’s the best moment of my life, don’t tell my wife and all that!’

RN: It was though!
Ole: Yeah. It does something to many people.

RN: It did something demented, I still can’t explain it. We’re normal people but that sent us a bit deranged.
Ole: Yeah I think so! Laughs.

RN: I was at Charlton, and you came back and scored that goal after that injury, I have to say I didn’t think you’d come back, how satisfying was that little period, the swansong period? Was it hard, were you suffering badly?
Ole: My knee was never 100% but it’s part of a story here now… that after my injury because Noah was, when I was injured, Noah was born 2000 and I got my injury in 2003 so he’s 3, then I made a comeback but it was not right, so he was 4 when I did the operation but my Dad used to be a Roman Greco wrestler, and he was Norwegian Champion 6 years on the bounce, from ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’70, ’71, he was Norwegian Champion but that was before I was born, so I’ve only seen his paper clippings so I don’t remember my Dad wrestling, but that was always, every day when I was in the gym, my main motivation was ‘my Noah is going to watch me at Old Trafford, score a goal and remember seeing that day for the rest of his life’…

RN: Oh that’s lovely… Wow.
Ole: So that was my main like, that’s what my heart, that was the main thing to get back… And when I did, scored that goal at Charlton, that was unbelievable, I missed a chance very similar to the chance I scored just before and the relief when I scored that goal was massive and I came on and I got the Captain’s armband and celebrated in front of the away fans was unbelievable but then again when I score at home and Noah was there, 2-0 against Newcastle, I can still picture him, both hands fists celebrating, I know it is too much! That’s for me is probably the best moment I’ve had. After the injury.

RN: Is that your favourite goal then?
Ole: You know the favourite moment, when I walk off the pitch after that 2-0 win against Newcastle and he just clenches his fists. (RN: I think I’m crying at this point!). But of course the 10 days in ’99 were massive. My best goal is probably the one I scored against Sturm Graz in the Champions League, with my left foot volley that went straight from the 18 yard box.

RN: What was the low points then?
Ole: Of course the injury towards the end. Losing Finals but probably the lowest and the most vivid memory is the 1-1 away to Bayer Leverkusen when we lost in the Semi Final of the Champions League. We drew 2-2 at home, we should have been 3-1 up, I think it was Seba Veron hit the post, hit the other post, out, counter attack instead of 3-1, they scored, it’s 2-2 at the other end. But I had a chance in maybe the 85th minute or something, a half volley from about 14/15 yards, just palmed that over the crossbar, that’s the most vivid memory I’ve got, of missing that chance.

RN: Do you think that we should have won more than one European Cup in that spell?
Ole: Definitely. With Eric when we lost the Semi Final in ’97 to Dortmund, as I felt we were the team to beat. Of course you played Juventus a couple of times, and had tight games against them that I thought we could go onto win it. That period after ’99 we thought we could go onto win a couple, Champions League is its margins. Post in, post out, that’s the difference.

RN: Roy Keane said in his book that he was looking at the line up at Leverkusen and questioned the hunger, do you think that was it? Or unfortunate moments in games?
Ole: Well you can say both but when you’re that close. 2-1, we’re winning at home, I’m sure it was Veron who had a shot and it hit both the posts or close to it anyway, that chance inside the post and they go out the other way and score a counter-attack, that’s not down to anything but luck, that’s football!

RN: What was it like sharing a dressing room with Eric and Keane, two huge characters?
Ole: Fantastic. Eric and Roy were two different persons obviously but Keano is the best Captain you could ever have in a team. For me. I’ve been asked so many times ‘pick one player that you played with’ and I can pick Cantona because he was the best player in my position when I came, I could have Ronaldo because he’s the best player now, Giggsy because of his qualities, Scholesy, he was probably the best player, Becks for his crossing, Jaap Stam, Rio, no-one when past him, Laurent Blanc, because he’s a legend, but for me if I pick one, I pick Roy Keane. Because all the influence he had on the squad and all the players around and everything he did. I’d pick Roy.

RN: How often did he call you out? Was it only occasionally and these stories get exaggerated over time?
Ole: He picked me out a few times but then again we’re mates now! Or we speak on the phone, and we text each other quite often. And when I’m in England we go for a cup of coffee. I understand that Roy did that because he can affect me in a positive way and he wanted me to do well for the team because the team needed me at my best. The players that never had a bollocking from Roy, you had no chance anyway!

RN: The Newcastle game, you’ve got sent off, how scared of the bollocking were you from Fergie?
Ole: To be honest I didn’t see it coming. Because it was the only right thing to do in my mind there and then. We lost the league by one point to Arsenal that year, it was in the 90th minute, 1-1. We could still get hold of that ball and score a goal towards the end in the other end so we needed to win the game. We would not win the game if 1) I gave a penalty away or 2) he scored. So to be honest I didn’t see a bollocking coming! Laughs. But I deserved it, yes, I can see that because it’s not fair play. Players patted me on the shoulder ‘well done, you did it for the team, you took one for the team’, but as the manager for the biggest club in the world it’s the only right thing to do is to give me a proper hairdryer. And he did! I was called into his office the next day. I had one more. One bad and more. After defeat to Sheffield Wednesday away at Hillsborough, so it was one of the two proper hairdryers I’ve had! You take it on board, there is absolutely no point trying to get back at him, just take it, you receive it and you accept it and you move on and you learn from it.

RN: Was it more worrying when he wasn’t angry, keeping it hidden?
Ole: To be fair I have to say I really enjoyed coming into half-time when he said ‘well done Ole!’ or when he mentioned me ‘look at the attitude’. I think he trusted me. What he does is he learnt how to manage everyone. So he knew, yeah, the bollocking once in a while did me good because I had to grow up but he praised me, he knew how to keep me on my toes and make me play at my best.

RN: Obviously the Utd fans have such love for you, how does that feel? When you said about Reds still singing your name? Nobody has a bad word about you, you could murder cats and get away with it…
Ole: It’s surreal. It is surreal and as I said it’s ten years ago that I retired, it seems like a past life but when I remember back on it and I wish, you can’t wish because I’ve picked it myself, I’ve moved back to Norway, settled, we really enjoy it but I wish I could have been to Old Trafford more often to watch the games and see the atmosphere because it’s the best feeling you can have.

RN: We’ll have to get you in the away end Ole because a good away day is the best…
Ole: Don’t I remember! Yes, I will!

RN: So what are your ambitions left now?
Ole: Of course I’ve been in the Premier League, got relegated, I would like to set that record straight one day but I can see now that because I was up and young and not so experienced, it’s 3 years ago now I took that job, I was 40, I think I’ll be better suited in say 3 or 4 years to get back in the big time.

RN: If not for a goal, what’s your favourite moment, where you thought at United ‘this is the business, this?’
Ole: I never thought I’d made it because I was always striving to get into that first XI more often, I would want to be a regular. Probably not believing 100% that I could nail down a first team regular spot really, but I probably realised I could have such an affect on the team as a sub. But when the Gaffer, because Spurs and Man Utd agreed a fee for me in the summer of ’98, but that not happening was down to the Gaffer. He called me in and said ‘well the clubs are agreed, I don’t want you to leave. We’re going to sign Dwight Yorke but if you stay you’ll play enough games, you’ll be an important part of this team’. That was enough for me. But then he also said ‘don’t tell anyone I said this!’. After what happened in ’99 and I scored that goal I think it’s justified that everyone should know that the Gaffer convinced me to stay! It was down to him.

RN: And how are your knees today, are they aright?
Ole: No, not really, no. No, to be fair. I live a normal life. Without being able to play football. The cold doesn’t really help. I can jog round the pitch and I can have a little kickabout but I can’t play proper football.

RN: One last question, on the 30th anniversary of the fanzine, through all the good and bad of Utd, if you’ve one message to Utd fans, what would it be right now?
Ole: We’ll get back to Number One. Just keep supporting the players and the club. And I’m sure we’ll turn it round. What’s been amazing, for me I’ve only experienced Man Utd supporters, they’ve always been positive. When I speak to players, my ex-team-mates that have played in Spain, or in Italy, the backing the Man Utd supporters give their own team is second to none. You see now, Real Madrid, if they lose a game or two games, Zidane’s got to go out to a press conference and maybe have a little comment about well the supporters should keep supporting the team and maybe the manager, that’s never happened at Man Utd. Never happens. Through good times and the bad.

RN: Thanks so much Ole.
Ole: Pleasure. Absolute pleasure.

Interview by Barney, thanks to Per at Molde for sorting so very quickly when they heard it was for our 30th. No fuss, and Ole a gent, as you’d imagine!

Android users can get each Red News through the Exactly App at https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...d.androidpaper
]]>RN Free MUFC Discussion ForumRed Newshttp://www.rednews.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/187745-New-Red-News-257-now-out-in-ALL-formats-Available-in-Print-Digital-Android-Kindle-and-APP-Easy-to-sort-choose-your-format-order-here%21Trying to create some space in the madness of RN HQ (ie, a small room!), so we have this offer, two t-shirts for the price of one - Newton Heathhttp://www.rednews.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/186855-Trying-to-create-some-space-in-the-madness-of-RN-HQ-%28ie-a-small-room%21%29-so-we-have-this-offer-two-t-shirts-for-the-price-of-one-Newton-Heath?goto=newpost
Fri, 12 Oct 2018 11:56:25 GMTTrying to create some space in the madness of RN HQ (ie, a small room!), so we have this offer, two t-shirts for the price of one - Newton Heath + 3...Trying to create some space in the madness of RN HQ (ie, a small room!), so we have this offer, two t-shirts for the price of one - Newton Heath + 3 grounds, limited stock for just £9.99 inc p&p at

Q. Jose, 1-0 up, you may have won the game in the first 10-15 minutes, and then what happened to your team?

JM: "You know, happened that we didn't score when we could and we could in the 1st half, we had good situations to kill it, we didn't and at half-time, I repeat basically, the same words I repeat in the last match, telling the players that their dressing room was for sure a dressing room with belief because the result was open and because they were playing quite well and we need to go and kill the game which we didn't. We couldn't be dominate in the beginning of the 2nd half and only after their equaliser we had again that reaction, that I don't like, I prefer not the reaction, I prefer to be pro-active and to go for it, but then we go for it only after the 1-1 and after the red card we are in a bit of difficult but then even with one man less was a reaction of pride, a reaction of a group that didn't want to lose the game and that tried until the last second, and then the penalties come and somebody has to miss, and when I saw going after the sixth, the seventh, I knew that we were going tp be in trouble with Jones and Eric, I know, I knew that we were going to be in trouble then."

Q. It's the second time in just a few days that you criticised the team for their attitude...

JM: "Do you think I criticised, I don't think so?"

Q. I think you didn't get the reaction that you wanted...

JM: "You know that's not criticising the team, I belong to that reaction, I belong to that team, I don't think you are correct when you say I'm criticising the team or do you want me to analyse the game or you want me to go away?

Q. No, I want you to analyse the game but equally you are unhappy with the way your team responded?

JM: You want me to say that we did a phenomenal match?

Q. No. I want the truth...

JM: The truth is exactly that, the opponent in the 2nd half start better than us and we were not able to match that intensity which we did after the 1-1, which we did even with the 10 men."

Q. So how big a worry is that for you?

JM: "A big a worry? The League Cup is not a worry anymore because we don't play until the next season. It's the minor of the competitions we are involved but I would lie, if I say that we threw the match away, no, we want to win the match and we are disappointed that we drew, and like I told the players involved before the match, the new rules, which I agree with, the new rules, I don't disagree because I lost, the new rules would put the favourite team more in danger because with a draw you have in the past 30 more minutes to play, without the extra-time you go direct to penalties and I think goes against the team that normally in 30 minutes extra-time would win the match, so then we go to penalties, and I never blame a player to lose a penalty, especially because we know clearly because we train and because we knew that when it goes in the direction of Jones, Eric Bailly we would be in trouble then.

Q. Lot of rumours today about a possible fall out between you and Paul Pogba, is there any truth in that?

Jose Mourinho: "No, the only truth is that I made the decision of Paul not to be the 2nd Captain anymore, but no fall out, no problems at all. The same person that decides that Paul is not the 2nd Captain anymore, was exactly the same person that decide that Paul was the 2nd Captain, myself. I am the manager, I can make these decisions, no fall out at all, no problems at all, just one decision that I don't have to explain."
]]>RN Free MUFC Discussion ForumRed Newshttp://www.rednews.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/186565-The-full-transcript-of-Jose-Mourinho-s-tetchy-interview-with-Sky-after-the-defeat-to-Derby-on-Pogba-s-2nd-Captaincy-demotion-and-the-lossNew Red News 255 - now out in ALL formats. Available in Print. Digital. Android. Kindle and APP. Easy to sort, choose your format + order here!http://www.rednews.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/186562-New-Red-News-255-now-out-in-ALL-formats-Available-in-Print-Digital-Android-Kindle-and-APP-Easy-to-sort-choose-your-format-order-here%21?goto=newpost
Tue, 25 Sep 2018 13:27:49 GMTNew Red News 255 - now out in ALL formats. Available in Print. Digital. Android. Kindle and APP. Easy to sort, choose your format + order here!
...New Red News 255 - now out in ALL formats. Available in Print. Digital. Android. Kindle and APP. Easy to sort, choose your format + order here!

United announced record revenue of £590m (only Man City (£503m) have broken thru the £500m barrier but that’s with all the financial doping)
But United’s financial juggernaut is slowing. Only 1.5% rise in revenue compared to 2017. Typically we have seen double figure rises (apart from year we missed out on Europe under LVG).
Broadcast revenue up (£194m to £204m).
Match day revenue down slightly (£112m to £110m) due to 5 fewer home games compared to 2017. Hopefully, no ticket price rises
The interesting part is Commercial revenue
nearly the same as last year (£275m versus £276) i.e. no growth
In 2016 to 2017 it only increased 3%.
When you compare the 4th quarter 2018 to the 4th quarter 2017, commercial revenue is actually down 6.5%.
Has the commercial bubble finally burst with all the shite football over the last 5 years?

Dickie Arnold said that some sponsors have not renewed so they have to replace those as well. Although he did say this was a “small” number.

Part of the rationale to hiring Collette Roche as head of operations is to allow Dickie Arnold to focus on the commercial business. That said, since June United have signed deals Kohler, Chivas, and MoPlay. Plus extended deal with Melitta. So maybe there’s an upturn on the way. We’ll see when first quarter results are announced.

United is forecasting revenue next year to be £615m to £630m

Profit

United’s cash profit (‘EBITDA’), which shows how underlying business is functioning, fell to £177m from £202m

Debt

Actual debt is £495m. We are not paying any of the debt off. Only the interest on it each year (£18m in 2018). We have been doing this for years. The club quotes “net debt” in its press release which is misleading because it’s a calculation of ‘actual debt’ minus the ‘cash in the bank’ as at 30 June. This is £495m minus £242m. It’s misleading because cash in the bank at June is high because of season ticket revenue and payments from UEFA. Cash is much lower later in the year. Keep the £495m in mind

The total interest paid on the debt by the United since 2005 is a mind numbing £785m

Wages

Wages bill of £295m is highest in the league (City next at £260m). But wage to revenue ratio still at target 50%

Ed’s Conference Call

Much fuckwittery about social media (“most clicks…..” “fastest growing YouTube channel”…)
Ed says club “aligned with fans to win trophies”
Ed says United expect long-term financial trends are good because of the club’s Over-The-Top media strategy (see latest RN) and the proposed UEFA summer club competition

Glazers’ Financial Rape

Here’s an update and reminder of the money the Glazers have taken out of United since 2005

To gain 254 (ready for RedNews No. 254 published early August!) subscribers - print or pdf - for Rednews, the unofficial MUFC fanzine, giving vital support who in return will receive all 10 mags of the 2018/19 season.

We are a small, independent unofficial Manchester United supporters' fanzine which will publish for its 32nd year in the 2018/19 season.

We sell at football grounds, and also print and pdf subscriptions to your door or email inbox.

Unfortunately the worst weather in our existence hit us last season which really affected our sales (we had rain, rain, snow, snow, more snow, rain and, er, rain), and we want to expand our subscription list to help us better prepare for the new season. We are seeking Reds near or far to support our cause.

This will better protect us for the 2018/19 season if we were to see a repeat on matchdays, or the affect of ever changing, and daft, kick-off times which affects sales; so we want to attract 254 subscribers - print or pdf - during June and July 2018 as YOU who will be helping the fanzine and part of MUFC supporting culture, and who in return will receive all 10 issues of our fanzine for the forthcoming 2018/19 season. This is vital new support which will help the fanzine flourish.

You will be giving invaluable support to our small fanzine, and in return gaining a unique, unofficial, irreverent read each month which doesn't try to take itself too seriously. It is adult content.

We appreciate all who have read this far, all who plan to support in June or July or have done so. Your support is vital and every single one of you who supports is helping to make a difference.

You will be making a vital difference to the fanzine.

We are aiming high with this target, but if you don't try, you'll never find out.

Thank you.

RedNews.

Support us in our quest for 254 subscribers before RedNews254 at fundrazr.com/rednewsfanzine
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Sat, 28 Apr 2018 18:33:31 GMTthanks.thanks.
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Mon, 26 Mar 2018 19:44:27 GMTNew April RedNews252 is out on Saturday at OT and now available for pre-order.
Pre-order print at...New April RedNews252 is out on Saturday at OT and now available for pre-order.

When you arrive: taxis from the airport cost between 20 and 30 euros. There is a bus route from the airport which takes you into town for 4 euros. The centre of town sits just to the east of the river; Seville’s football stadium is east of town. Taxis, buses and an underground system are all available.

There are small bars pretty much everywhere you go in Seville, all offering similar menus. Tortillas (Spanish omelettes), patatas bravas, montaditos (little sandwiches) and fried seafood are offered pretty much everywhere (Sevillian food involves a lot of frying). For something local, there is an Andalucian cold soup dish called Salmorejo which is widely sold and can be delicious. The most common beer on tap in Seville is Cruzcampo. In most places, ordering a beer will get you only this. Some bars offer more of a range; to find more recognisable drinks, you’ll have to go to an English bar.

There are a few british pubs in Seville. The best by a distance is The Pheonix. Sitting just across the river near Los Remedios, The Pheonix has several screens which show football matches. You can get international beers not-too-expensively and the pub food and general atmosphere is good. The crowd is also fairly international. O’Neill’s is another English pub, located slightly nearer the centre. The drinks here are expensive, however, and the screens worse for watching football. The crowd is almost entirely English, however. The Clan is a Scottish pub, a little further from the river.

There’s a large open street called Alameda with a long run of bars and a couple of clubs that get busy in the evenings. A restaurant on the stretch called Alameda 5 does tasty, relatively inexpensive food – they do a delicious caramelised pork steak in curry sauce, but most of the menu is also high quality. They also get a lot of English diners there, so the staff and menus are both accommodating to non-Spanish-speaking clientele. Alameda 5 also have a large outside screen which is wheeled out for football matches, but typically shows Spanish fixtures.

There is a jazz bar called Naima Jazz Café which has good live music until midnight every night. Drinks are expensive but they do offer pints – most places don’t.

There’s a chain of fast food restaurants called 100 Montaditos which offers 100 different hot sandwich options and you can get large beers called ‘jarras’ (a bit less than a pint) for €1.50. Their hot dogs are particularly good value. There are three different 100 Montaditos around the city centre. The Good Burger also does high-quality fast food, and all burgers are two-for-one on Thursdays.

A bar called La Gitana Loca (“The Crazy Gypsy”) does incredibly cheap drinks – if you want to sit outside, a bar on Alameda called Amanacer also does cheap drinks. There is a run of bars in a part of town called Alfalfa which get quite busy in the evenings.

In terms of culture: there are a couple of art museums that are free to enter. There is a park with a fantastic building and courtyard called the Plaza de España which is beautiful and well worth seeing if the weather is good. The Real Alcazar – an old palace – is also amazing to look around, if you’re after some sight-seeing. The cathedral is similarly impressive, inside and out, and located right near the centre of the city. There is a bull ring which you can see but there aren’t any fights until April.

There’ll be a heightened police presence around the city around match day – obviously – remember to be a bit careful because the local police have been known to get quite violent.

Louis
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check out all our items on sale at ebay currently at https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/rednewssh...1&_ipg=&_from=
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Tue, 06 Feb 2018 19:00:13 GMTfrom Barney: 'I know some of David Pegg's family, lovely people who match going Reds, they have asked me to thank Utd fans who placed tributes at his grave today. Utd also sent wreath. David's brother in law Jack was guest at OT on Saturday + visited the grave today and says it is appreciated.'

With each year, as time marches relentlessly on, there are more of us at Old Trafford who weren't around to see the Babes play live and can only dare imagine the indescribable burden of events that must have left such deep scars on supporters and staff alike who witnessed those tragic events unfold back in Manchester, let alone those present at Reim Airport to witness such suffering and heartache.

I can't imagine this United side being decimated in such a way. Of course I can't. We live in times where we are protected against death, have no real understanding or comprehension of wars, watching them on our tv news, protected from the real images with censorship and control. The thought of any of our team dying in their prime just doesn't bear thinking about. So I don't. But that it happened to a team of ours does bear thinking about, and often too.

I know of the Babes, their history, their impact and what happened before, during and after February 1958 because I am as passionate about the past as I am of the present for the club I support and adore. From an early age I immersed myself in as much United knowledge as I could. I may not win any quizzes, or remember the words to many of the Great United Songs which RN so admirably maintains but I have tried to educate myself as much as I can about OUR history. For ours it is. Mine, yours, and yours to pass on. Glazers come and Glazers go but we are here to stay.

A chat with older Reds - sadly dismissed by many fans at games - is a fascinating experience because they have seen and lived through so much. Younger Reds of course don't have any blueprint to follow and, as with everything, each to their own on how they should go about 'learning' the United way. Nobody should be force fed stuff they don't want to know, and as I chose to seek out as much information as I can about our history; from record books to biographies and the like, I can understand that for a lot of younger Reds this doesn't appeal. All they may care about is the here and now; the present day and the present team. And one day no doubt, as it ever was, they will have seen enough to have their own fascinating stories about decades of 4 United history and support to tell and pass on to another, younger, generation.

But when it comes to February 6th 1958, I do think that a basic level of understanding is something that every Red should go out of his way - and he doesn't really have to go that far to acquire it either - to understand. With ageing Reds sadly dwindling in number it is left to those of us who didn't experience the period to keep the memories of Duncan, Tommy and the rest alive. For a team died playing for the team we support - surely though no debt is ever asked the least we owe them is to preserve their memory.

I understand from seeing United internet forums (a curse or a blessing, depending on which day you check) that there is an argument about how we should react to our tragedy so many years on. Each to their own of course, and people can commemorate the anniversary in whatever way they see fit, but commemorate it they should, however briefly. I don't care if people want to sing the Flowers of Manchester by the plaque or not - each to his own again, but as GreenhoffJ8 put it so well on the RI forum: “Yes, every year on the 6th, we remember it, each in our own way, for 10 seconds, a minute, or whatever, as long as we remember, it doesn't matter how...Anyone in Manchester the week Sir Matt died or at the game, knows exactly how Manchester United and its supporters feel about their legends, the memory of that day will never leave me as long as I live, and I'm sure those around at the time of Munich feel the same...”.

But it saddens me when passing the plaque on occasion this season to encounter a whole host of people - wearing United colours and certainly old enough to know better - who appear to know nothing about the plaque and what it represents and whose ignorant questions and lack of understanding about the most simplest of United memorials defies belief.

How can you (and I mean they) support a club and yet fail to ingratiate yourself with its history? How can you not know about the Babes? It's not asking for much? Of course they could go from that forecourt and want to find out more. But with each passing year I fear that more and more people will arrive at Old Trafford, caring little for the past, wanting their theme park experience and wanting fuck all to do with the remainder of our culture. Failing to realise that without our past there is nothing, for it builds and defines our future. We take the baton from our dads, we cherish it, and then pass it on to our kids. Those who just 'turn up', blindly unaware of anything bar Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo and only staying for success are a blight.

And as we rightfully slag off Glazer for knowing nothing about the traditions of this club, we should also point the finger at those closer to home who will wear their ROONEY shirts with pride on a matchday, but know nothing about those who wore it before him. I admire Ruud for going out of his way to read up about the club when he signed for us. He knows the importance of a United education.

I have heard it asked on the forecourt. “Who is this Busby?” when talking about the statue. Of course that's rare. But. A one off or not? You decide.

As I dare not imagine what it must have been like to have been a United fan during those terrible times in 1958, I can only again imagine the horror to be a parent of one of those who died; a wife, the lover, the brother, the children. And so it is that whenever I think of that era, my mind always turns too to the survivors. There is always perhaps a greater tragedy in those that were left behind, forever haunted.

If I picture my best mates and think of how it must have been to see so many perish in front of your eyes, as much as there is an incredible story in the way those that survived fought for this club to continue through the tragedy and keep their mates' memory alive, and, with the help of others, 10 years later, conquer Europe, it is impossible to imagine what affect this had on those that lived. Sir Matt, Harry Gregg, and Bobby Charlton to name but three of the more well known. There are many tragedies of that crash, and one was those it left behind, I'm sure of it.

I shudder at them, over the years, seeing it thrown back at them as rival fans taunted us with Munich chants whilst they were present at games. How must the survivors have coped with that? What memories that must have brought back. And although Liverpool fans were as guilty as anyone of singing that sick song, I feel a great deal of sympathy to their fans who saw mates die at Hillsborough too. Again, I can have no comprehension of the horrors that day too. United fans who taunt that disaster should be ashamed of themselves.

It's with that in mind, not that I clear him of all rude charges, that I always feel a great deal of sympathy when Bobby Charlton is accused of being such a surly man when encountered by United fans over the years. Maybe it's no excuse, but excuse him I do. Nobby Stiles said of Charlton: ‘He never forget the horror’, and Sir Matt years on said: “The recollections bring so much grief...although I do face it, I still wonder, at times, if the whole sorrowful business did really happen. The fact which must be faced, though, is the loss of many of my greatest footballers and my finest friends”.

As we again cocoon ourselves in different times, in a more sanitised era, the hell of a war beyond our comprehension that many of these men came through as boys, only to be pitted into darkness once more is a story that weeps its own tears. How would any of us cope in such a situation? These lads gifted with incredible skills were normal lads, not the pampered stars of todays game, getting the bus to games with fans, working down the mine or in a factory at the weekend. And then their lives were shattered.

Jimmy Murphy, a man who deserves much more accolades in our memories than he does, spoke 10 years on that: “The heartache of Munich is still there. To the generation which has grown up since then, those may be just names, but to me they were Matt's boys. My boys!”

Recalling being back home when the crash happened, Murphy said: “I was too numb to take in the awful grief and savage heartbreak. Agony piled on agony as the hours ticked remorselessly on. Thousands hurried down to the ground to see if they could help; the police threw a protective cordon around relatives and friends who had lost their loved ones. Those of us left at the ground did our best to calm and console the grief stricken. But what word of sympathy could I find to comfort the bereaved. There was nothing to lift the blanket of despair”.

When he flew to Munich to be with his players he met Matt. “The surgeons felt he might live, but no one except those of us close to him, ever felt he would be a force again in football. But I knew. In one of his conscious moments he whispered: ‘Keep the flag flying Jimmy. Keep things going until I get back.’ At that moment Matt didn't even know how many of his boys had been killed. I did. As I stumbled out of the hospital into the snow which still lay as a thick carpet over the city of Munich I was close to tears”.

Tom Williams, the liverpool chairman, rang Jimmy Murphy and said: “Any of my star players we can give you to keep United afloat let me know”.

How must the emotions have affected Sir Matt, attempting to take charge of the club once again. How can we view him in anything less than mythical status with what he did next. Not just coming back, with those tortured memories, but to lead us to glory. He wrote on returning to OT for the first time after the crash: “Resting in Interlaken, Germany was one thing and facing Old 4 Trafford another. When I approached the ground and moved over the bridge along which our supporters had squeezed fifty abreast in their tens of thousands to shout for us I could scarcely bear to look. I knew the ghosts of the Babes would still be there, and there they are still, and they will always be there as long as those who saw them still cross the bridge, young, gay, red ghosts on the green grass of Old Trafford.”

Heavens knows how hard it must have been for Charlton. “I just couldn't take it in, and therefore it washed over me. I didn't want to accept what had happened. When I got home it was worse. I could feel and smell the tragedy then. It was unbearable when I met people I had known through players who had died”. In the weeks that followed games became more than just a game. Charlton explained. “We had not been playing football games in which one side lost and the other side won. We had to win. The alternative was a return of melancholy to Manchester”. Harry Gregg explained: “Reflecting on our luck in having a future again, and trying to blot out the awful memories of Munich by thinking fixedly about football...I had gathered that when Jimmy saw Mr Busby in hospital, the boss had told him things must go on”.

Jimmy Murphy: “It was terrible at home. The papers were still full of the crash. I can't recall much about it, but then I don't think there is much to remember. The side wasn't being rebuilt - there wasn't enough time for that. It was being re-patched. The city was shocked, oh, it was so sad”. Of course there is a feeling that we became a mighty club on the back of the public support we received in the wake of the tragedy, but let us not forget that we always attracted superb support, 50,000 crowds regularly in '56-57.

When the younger players looked for guidance in the days that followed, their father figures like Bert Whalley had also died. Who could they turn to? The inspiration of Murphy must have been immense. Bill Foulkes lost a stone in weight in a few short weeks. “Jimmy Murphy kept telling us not to bother about football, but we all knew we had to start thinking about the club's future sometime soon. I got into a worse state than ever, thinking we were never going to make it. The doctors told me that I should go away and have a long holiday away from it all, but how could I? I couldn't stop thinking of poor Jimmy Murphy on his own at Old Trafford”.

Foulkes described the aftermath. “The remaining members of the team now went to Blackpool, to the Norbreck Hydro Hotel, which we had started to do during the European Cup runs of the previous two seasons. We virtually lived there, and I do not remember seeing my wife for more than one day a week for six weeks. We just had to get away from Manchester, with all its shattering atmosphere of hysteria and grief. Living together was essential to try to find some kind of team spirit, which we managed to do with such a strange assortment of players. In fact, the team spirit became quite incredible as we made our unsteady way to the Cup Final. I remember we posed for a photograph of the playing staff soon after arriving in Blackpool, and what a weird picture we made. There were a few reserves, who had played occasional games in the first team, but most of the rest looked like a gaggle of schoolkids...but how those lads fought”.

Murphy talked of that first game back, against Sheffield Wednesday. “I felt very sorry for the Sheffield side, they were never in the game with a chance, for I am sure everyone who took an interest in football willed us to win that night. I could not believe that the skeleton that was leading out Manchester United was Bill Foulkes. The crowd was hysterical, and I was not far away from being in the same state”.

It is testament to Murphy and those around him that the club went on. To the players who survived the crash and willed themselves to keep the memory of their mates alive it is nothing short of miraculous, a strange term in such tragic circumstances. Harold Hardman on the front cover of the Sheffield Wednesday programme wrote: “United will go on....the club has a duty to the public and a duty to football. We shall carry on even if it means that we are heavily defeated . Here is a tragedy which will sadden us for years to come, but in this we are not alone. An unprecedented blow to British football has touched the hearts of millions. Wherever football is played United is mourned”.

I'm hopefully trying to explain why it's still so important to everyone of us. I hope that if just one Red reading this who knows little of that time bar the basics then decides to takes time out to consider just what happened to our club that year and why it's so important that so many of us remember all year round, not just on Feb 6th. Remember a soon to be married Duncan Edwards, a Roger Byrne who never discovered that his wife Joy was expecting a child, that Geoff Bent never saw his daughter Karen grow up, nor Mark Jones his son, with Eddie Colman, David Pegg having all that to come. Tommy Taylor also to wed, and Liam Whelan whose last words to Harry Gregg, a man who watched his mates die say: ‘If the worst happens I am ready for death ... I hope we all are.’ All of those that died had their futures, their glorious futures, in front of them. We owe them their memories.

I can't help but be emotional when I write this. You hear some people, some of the younger generation, saying that because they weren't alive it doesn't really affect them. But a team died who played for Manchester United. if that doesn't move, inspire and motivate you to educated yourselves in the MUFC way and traditions then you really haven't got a clue.

Duncan Edwards was the Babes' talisman. The man who awoke from his coma and recognised Murphy. “What time's kick-off against Wolves on Saturday?” he asked. “Two thirty as usual,” said Murphy. “Get stuck in, lads,” were Edwards’ final words. They say he was the greatest. Sir Matt explained why this wasn't the mists of times propelling him into undeserved greatness.

“I think about Duncan a lot. I sometimes fear there is a danger that people will think that we who knew him and saw him in action boost him because he is dead. Sentiment can throw a man's judgement out of perspective. Yet it is not the case with him. Whatever praise one likes to heap on Duncan is no more than he deserves. There was no other player in the world like him then and there has been nobody to equal him since”. His gravestone inscription reads: “A Day of Memory, Sad to Recall. Without Farewell, He Left Us All”.

And that's what I hope all Reds realise; young and old alike, that the Babes left us all. And it is up to all of us to never forget. However you see fit.

When Eric Cantona wrote a book it was never going to be a ghost-written, chronological trudge through his upbringing, early career as a professional footballer, marriage, move to England, championship wins, dressing room drama, acting, divorce, beach football, marriage and political aspirations.

As interesting as all that might be, Eric is clearly someone who lives in the moment. In a recent interview with James O’Brien for the ‘Unfiltered’ podcast (“Eric Cantona - Inside the Mind of an Enigma”), he spoke about walking through forests with his eyes closed, just listening.

It’s no surprise then that he has chosen to publish a notebook. A collection of extremely brief, abstract and self-illustrated musings on life, death, love, politics, religion, reason and everything in between.

Just like a good walk through a forest with your eyes closed, there is no discernible beginning, middle and end to Eric’s notebook; with the exception of a Preface and a final illustration involving an ‘exit’, which he describes and a “trompe-l’oeil” (optical illusion).

The preface contains about the same number of words as the rest of the notebook put together, and is where Eric sets out the context of the notebook while also signalling his preferred philosophical tradition. He uses a Socratic dialogue between ‘Flip’ and ‘Flop’ to let the reader know that what follows will not contain any truths or answers; but a space to consider some questions and continue the dialogue with the reader.

He is clearly mindful not to appear pretentious and gives another nod to Socrates in the illustration of a man looking at his reflection in the mirror, with a cock looking back at him, titled “Me and myself”. Indeed, wisdom is knowing that you know nothing.

It is very difficult to write a review of what is essentially a dialogue between Eric Cantona and the reader, particularly when most of the ‘reading’ involves the interpretation of abstract drawings. There are some obvious themes, however.

On Politics: There are several depictions of men subserviently interacting with a faceless giant, to portray Eric’s well-publicised views regarding the relationship between the rich and poor in society. From his performance in Ken Loach’s “Looking for Eric” in 2009, to calling on people to withdraw all their money from banks in 2010, it’s clear that Eric still sides with the little man (or ‘little Eric’).

On Religion: In one entry, a series of equations are used to depict a relationship between revelation, religion and reason. Presumably, Eric knowingly chose sums as a deft nod to Comte’s ‘Positivism’.

On the human condition: Love, courage, death and solidarity are all captured through various entries, with subtle humour and pathos. But, for a man who has always had an unpredictable streak, his entry on Destiny is most interesting. A body comprising a pencil with limbs and a head, sketching a sperm...